After a rap from the Congress High Command, the party in Himachal Pradesh has decided not to pursue a petition filed by state Revenue Minister Sat Mahajan in the High Court for postponing counting fixed for December 28. “The state cabinet in a meeting on Monday, presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, decided not to pursue Mahajan’s petition on deferring counting,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday made it clear that the Congress will uphold democratic norms and demit office if unable to get a clear mandate of the people. Till last week, the Chief Minister had been insisting that he had the constitutional and legal right to stay in office till March 9, 2008 — the day when term of the current Assembly ends.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy, during a visit to Shimla to review poll arrangements, had claimed that two assemblies can co-exist and one such earlier instance happened in Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday, Virbhadra Singh said, “Irrespective of the fact that EC’s decision of holding early elections was patently wrong, I will not be party to any constitutional crisis in the state. We have taken a decision not to exercise our legal and constitutional options of going to the High Court or the Supreme Court. If the Congress gets a majority on its own, then we have a clear option to complete the term till March 9.”

But what will happen if the Congress is voted out of power? “If voted out -- to me that appears most unlikely -- I will certainly stick to democratic norms of the party.”

Mahajan had approached the High Court last week seeking a stay on counting of votes till completion of term of the present House. However, his petition was not entertained because of some lacunae and he was instructed to correct his plea before approaching the court again.

The party insiders claim that after Narendra Modi’s spectacular victory in Gujarat, the Congress High Command sent a word to Virbhadra Singh to pave the way for formation of a BJP government. The party is learnt to have already resigned to the fact that it’s return to power in Himachal looks unlikely.

The party in charge for Himachal R K Dhawan has hinted to the party about the BJP making considerable gains in the Congress stronghold, including Mandi, Una, Solan and Shimla. The Congress is not likely to get all tribal seats, where the elections were held before rest of the state.

The BJP camp is already in an upbeat mood. Party’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal has reached Delhi to hold discussions with the central leaders on possible formation of the next Government.